Forty Days - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 24:18,

"Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights."

The Lord called Moses up to Mt. Sinai where he had manifested himself to the nation in what looked to be a consuming fire on top of it. We are told when Moses went up a cloud covered it and he "entered the cloud". We are told Moses stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Not 38 and not 77, but 40!

It occurs to me there are a number of instances where this period of forty days is illustrated in the Scriptures:

When God destroyed the earth with the flood in Noah's day, we are told it rained forty days an forty nights, Genesis 7. We are also told forty days after the water receded from the earth Noah sent out  a raven from the ark, Genesis 8:6.

The Egyptian physicians took 40 days to embalm Jacob when he died. This, however, seems to be the normative period for embalming (so this reference probably doesn't relate to anything other than embalming.) Genesis 50.

In addition to the first time Moses spent with the Lord forty days, he spent another forty days and nights with the Lord (without eating bread or drinking water) when he chiseled out the second set of tablets with the Ten Commandments, Exodus 34:24

The Israelite spies spent forty days exploring the promised land when they brought back a report that communicated their lack of faith in God, Numbers 13.

Goliath terrified the Israelites for 40 days before David took him out, 1 Samuel 17.

Elijah traveled forty days and forty nights after he fled from Jezebel, 1 Kings 19.

When Jonah finally went to Nineveh to proclaim God's judgment, he told them it was coming in forty days, Jonah 3.

Certainly the most famous period of forty days and forty nights was the period Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and being tempted by the devil, Matthew 4.

Following his resurrection, we are told Jesus spent forty days speaking about the kingdom of God to the apostles, Acts 1.

All of these passages speak of forty days or forty days and forty nights. While forty days can be a reference without further meaning (the embalming of Jacob by the Egyptian physicians), other references appear symbolic to many of "probation" or "trial". Times of trouble and hardship.

I'm not one given to "numerology" in Scripture, but the Bible does have a feel to it that some numbers are significant or important, such as the number twelve.

Do you see a theme here associated with 40 days?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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